Storage, NAS... Anything else that does the job?

[Dupont666]

Looking for a place to store stuff (got a 1TB MyBook at the moment) that is secure and can be hooked up to a media player (Popcorn Hour C-200/HDX1000/squeezebox) at a later date, at the moment its just going to be a storage device that is upgradeable.

I have heard of Netgear:

http://www.netgear.co.uk/desktop_storage.php?src=h...

Drobo:

http://drobo.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&prod...

Is there anything else I have missed that I should be looking at or a different way of looking at it?

I would rather get a diskless one and put the disks in I want and allow it to be upgradable.

What are the pros and cons of them?

I would rather not build a home PC as a media player before that is mentioned.

Cheers in advance

Also I have a MacBook, is a time machine worth it?

[bodhi]

I'd avoid the Drobo as you need to buy an extra bit to attach it to the network, in which case it starts to work out expensive. The network add on is supposedly very flakey as well, and not sure if you can install a media streamer on it. I'd look at one of the Netgear boxes or alternatively, something from Qnap such as the one in the link below.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod...

[Dupont666]

bodhi said:

I'd avoid the Drobo as you need to buy an extra bit to attach it to the network, in which case it starts to work out expensive. The network add on is supposedly very flakey as well, and not sure if you can install a media streamer on it. I'd look at one of the Netgear boxes or alternatively, something from Qnap such as the one in the link below.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod...

If you look at the linky above for the drobo, you can see the file share is now included for free, hence the inclusion of it in the list

[Nimbus]

expensive, but they do the job perfectly..

get a QNAP 209/309/409

[Dupont666]

Nimbus said:

expensive, but they do the job perfectly..

get a QNAP 209/309/409

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_TS-409PRO-1T5-275.html

Is that a standalone or should I just look at:

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_...

Why are they rated over Netgear or Drobo?

Edited by Dupont666 on Friday 14th August 11:38

[Nimbus]

Dupont666 said:

Nimbus said:

expensive, but they do the job perfectly..

get a QNAP 209/309/409

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_TS-409PRO-1T5-275.html

Is that a standalone or should I just look at:

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_...

Why are they rated over Netgear or Drobo?

Edited by Dupont666 on Friday 14th August 11:38

You can get all the specs at
http://www.qnap.com/Products.asp

They are all standalone, basically you fit the desks, decide how you want the RAID setting up, then plug it into your network, job done..

They are rated over those other suppliers because they just work better..

Come with a load of basic software already loaded for things like Bit Torrent downloading, media streaming, web server etc etc, and there are plenty of other applciations you can load on top from their webpages.

They are well supported, and well, they just work, and reliably..

I have a 209 with 2*500Gb disks in a RAID array, so little chance of loosing anything.
The box sits there streaming all my music and video to an xbox, runs perfectly.
It also sits happily downloading torrents, ( its doing 3 right now while I'm at work ). Think its been on since I moved house, so thats about 2 months, all without a hiccup, or any manual intervention needed.

Theres been a fair few threads on PH over the last year or two on this, so a search should bring up everything you need to know about them.

I'd definitely by another, or a bigger one...

[Dupont666]

Nimbus said:

Dupont666 said:

Nimbus said:

expensive, but they do the job perfectly..

get a QNAP 209/309/409

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_TS-409PRO-1T5-275.html

Is that a standalone or should I just look at:

http://www.majentaonline.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/QNAP_...

Why are they rated over Netgear or Drobo?

Edited by Dupont666 on Friday 14th August 11:38

You can get all the specs at
http://www.qnap.com/Products.asp

They are all standalone, basically you fit the desks, decide how you want the RAID setting up, then plug it into your network, job done..

They are rated over those other suppliers because they just work better..

Come with a load of basic software already loaded for things like Bit Torrent downloading, media streaming, web server etc etc, and there are plenty of other applciations you can load on top from their webpages.

They are well supported, and well, they just work, and reliably..

I have a 209 with 2*500Gb disks in a RAID array, so little chance of loosing anything.
The box sits there streaming all my music and video to an xbox, runs perfectly.
It also sits happily downloading torrents, ( its doing 3 right now while I'm at work ). Think its been on since I moved house, so thats about 2 months, all without a hiccup, or any manual intervention needed.

Theres been a fair few threads on PH over the last year or two on this, so a search should bring up everything you need to know about them.

I'd definitely by another, or a bigger one...

Im looking at a minimum of a 4 bay drive (1 TB aint enough at the moment), then I can use the xbox until the proper media player is purchased and then I can remove the cd player and the DVD player and get rid, anything that need transfering onto the system can be done via the macBook and its superdrive.

[jimothy]

Replace the MyBook now! They fail like no-ones business...

[grumbledoak]

No experience of the bigger QNAP boxes, but my little TS-109 was a doddle to set up. I only use it as NAS and MP3 server, but it can do a lot more than that.

[rsv gone!]

I've just bought my second Synology NAS. Similar to the Qnaps in that they are bundled with all sorts of useful software. The synology includes a torrent and en E-mule client, various media streaming functionality (straight to an xbox 360), itunes server, surveillance centre (monitors webcams for movement), FTP server and lots of others that can be installed like Slimserver etc.

You can 'test drive' the user interface here;

http://demo.synology.com:5000/

Account: admin
Password: synology

(Obviously much slower than operating over your LAN, though)

Edited by rsv gone! on Friday 14th August 13:51

[Dupont666]

jimothy said:

Replace the MyBook now! They fail like no-ones business...

Its on a very limited use until this NAS is bought and everything has been transfered.

[Dupont666]

So can anyone think of something else other than a NAS that can do the job?

At the moment its:

1st Qnap 4 bay http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=11...
2nd ReadyNAS™ NV+
3rd Drobo + Share only cause the package is now £350
4th Synology NAS

All are 4+ bays

anything else?

[Bongo Fury]

for Synology products. Similar to Qnap.

[Dupont666]

rsv gone! said:

I've just bought my second Synology NAS. Similar to the Qnaps in that they are bundled with all sorts of useful software. The synology includes a torrent and en E-mule client, various media streaming functionality (straight to an xbox 360), itunes server, surveillance centre (monitors webcams for movement), FTP server and lots of others that can be installed like Slimserver etc.

You can 'test drive' the user interface here;

http://demo.synology.com:5000/

Account: admin
Password: synology

(Obviously much slower than operating over your LAN, though)

Edited by rsv gone! on Friday 14th August 13:51

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[Nimbus]

why are you getting rid of the xbox ? I take it you are running xbmc on it ?

and on a xbmc theme.. theres no a 'live' versiont hat you can run on any old computer from cd or usb... I've been using it on my laptop to watch films upstairs, its great, works straight out the box, and saves you buying yet more kit

[Dupont666]

Nimbus said:

why are you getting rid of the xbox ? I take it you are running xbmc on it ?

and on a xbmc theme.. theres no a 'live' versiont hat you can run on any old computer from cd or usb... I've been using it on my laptop to watch films upstairs, its great, works straight out the box, and saves you buying yet more kit

Xbox is not going I just want a PCH C200/HDX1000 or something similar as the eventual media player.

Got a link for xbmxc on a usb?

[bogie]

Ive had a NV + for over 2 years now ...lots of info on www.readynas.com and some great 3rd pary add-ons ....you get a 5 year warranty on the Netgear, its a business product, 24 hour swap out...QNAP are a new entrant - a small firm from Taiwan, 1 year warranty and 10-14 day swap out direct from Taiwan...until they get some local support organisation

my vote is for the Readynas..

[Dupont666]

Im just trying to get enough info together that I can pick on that is the best functionally for what I want. As it will be on display I always wanted the sleakness of the drobo and drobo share, but I have yet to find a PHer that has one, as another feature I like was the fact that you can have 4 different sized disks and it works fine and so I can upgrade the internal disks over time.

The rest look like a server.

are there any self build kits out there?, somewhere I can buy a nice case and the electronics from and then buy the software and discs and hey presto a self built NAS.

[plg101]

+1 for Drobo.

Very very impressed so far ( 6 months) of use with my Mac with 3tb.

[Dupont666]

plg101 said:

+1 for Drobo.

Very very impressed so far ( 6 months) of use with my Mac with 3tb.

What do you use yours for and did you need a drobo share with it?

Had any issues so far?

Are they bringing out a new one and hence the price drop to £350?